People often wonder about the role that passion has to play in business. Can you start a successful business if you are not really passionate about the industry? Is business success about the practical side of things or is it about loving what you do? 

The truth is, it’s a bit of both. You won’t be able to keep a business afloat if you don’t know the first thing about running a company. However, without passion, you are very likely to fail. It doesn’t matter how much business training you have and how well you think you know the industry, it’s rare for somebody to build a successful company from something that they don’t care about. But why exactly is passion so important in business? 

It Encourages People To Start Businesses In The First Place

Often, people start businesses because they are unhappy with their current career and they don’t have any passion for it. They would rather spend their time doing something that they are truly passionate about, and they start a business that allows them to do that. But leaving your job and starting a company is a risky move and people only take that step when launching a business they are passionate about. People are unlikely to have the motivation to do it if they don’t get excited about their new business idea.  

It Makes You Work Harder

Getting a business off the ground is a lot of hard work and passion is often the thing that separates the business leaders that make it from the ones that don’t. This is because skill and ability are only part of the equation, and this is something that business leader Wayne Blazejczyk talks about in relation to sports as well as business. Just like in sport, the people that have the drive and ambition to push them forward are the ones that make it to the big leagues, not necessarily the ones that showed the most skill. Business leaders that are passionate are willing to put the hours in and do whatever it takes to make their business work, but if you aren’t passionate about your company, you won’t do that. 

It Helps You Attract Investors 

Finding investors is one of the first steps towards business success, but getting your pitch right can be tough. There are a few things that investors look out for but passion is definitely one of the most important. They’ll ask about your credentials and how you plan to use their money, but first, they want to see how excited you are about the business. If you can’t get excited about it, why should they? Investors can pick up on it when people aren’t that enthusiastic about their own business and it’s a serious red flag. They will assume that you aren’t fully invested and you won’t work hard to ensure that they get their money back. 

If you know the ins and outs of running a business and you have a lot of experience, you might be able to build a relatively successful company. But without passion, there is a limit to what you can achieve.